Quick Summary
| Ticket | Part of the City Walls circuit — no separate entry |
|---|---|
| Location | South-west corner of the walls, facing Pile Gate |
| Built | From 1461, design by Michelozzo of Florence |
| Type | Casemated round artillery fortress |
| Best photo | From Lovrijenac or the sea kayaks below |
| Time at the fort | 15 – 20 minutes on the circuit |
Prices and hours are taken from the official ticket office (citywallsdubrovnik.hr) and may change — always double-check before your visit.
Every visitor who walks the Dubrovnik walls crosses Bokar Fortress; most don't realise they've just passed one of the oldest surviving examples of a completely new idea in warfare. When Bokar was begun in 1461, cannon had recently stopped being a novelty and become the thing that ended sieges — Constantinople had fallen to Ottoman artillery just eight years earlier. Dubrovnik, watching nervously, hired the Florentine architect Michelozzo di Bartolomeo and told him to modernise the walls for the gunpowder age. Bokar is his answer, and it still stands exactly where he put it.
What makes Bokar special
Unlike the tall, square medieval towers along the landward walls, Bokar is low, round and thick — a casemated cylinder projected out from the wall line into the sea rocks. The shape is the point:
- Round walls deflect shot. A cannonball striking a curved face glances off; against a flat medieval tower it bites. Bokar is among the earliest casemated fortresses of this kind preserved in Europe.
- Casemates fire back. Inside the drum, vaulted gun chambers let Dubrovnik's own cannon cover the two things that mattered most here: the Pile Gate approach and the moat under the western walls.
- Crossfire with Lovrijenac. Bokar and Fort Lovrijenac on its cliff opposite form a gun trap: any ship trying to land at the small Kolorina cove, or any force assaulting Pile Gate, sat between two batteries. Stand on Bokar's roof platform and the geometry explains itself in one glance.
Michelozzo worked on the fort with local masters, and construction dragged on for over a century as the republic argued about budgets — the finishing touches came only in 1570. Some things about city fortification projects haven't changed in 450 years.
Visiting Bokar on the wall walk
Bokar is not a separate attraction: it's a station on the City Walls circuit, included in the standard ticket. Walking anticlockwise from Pile you reach it within the first ten minutes; from Ploče it's near the end. Give it 15–20 minutes:
- The roof platform — the classic view across the cove to Lovrijenac, with the open Adriatic beyond. In the morning the light favours Lovrijenac; in the evening it favours the walls themselves.
- The casemate level — when open, the vaulted interior gives you the gunner's perspective through the embrasures; cool, echoing and usually empty.
- The seaward parapet just after Bokar — look down: the fort sits partly on a detached rock, and the sea washes under the connecting arch. Kayak flotillas pass directly below in season.
Photographer's note: the best pictures of Bokar aren't taken from the walls at all. Shoot it from Lovrijenac's terraces (late afternoon) or from a sea kayak at water level — the round drum with Minčeta rising behind is the shot.
Bokar on screen
Game of Thrones location scouts loved this corner of the walls: the stretch between Bokar and Pile stood in for the King's Landing battlements where Tyrion and Varys surveyed Blackwater Bay, and the cove below appears in multiple episodes. The fort's silhouette also turns up in countless establishing shots of King's Landing. A dedicated filming-locations tour covers the exact spots and the scenes shot on them.
A 30-second history of the name
In older documents the fort appears as Zvjezdan ("starry"), and "Bokar" likely relates to the shape of a rounded jug (bokal). Locals also call it Puncjela. Whatever the name, its job description never changed: keep artillery trained on the western approach, and make sure the drawbridge at Pile could never be rushed. It held that post, without ever firing in a real siege of the city, until the republic's end in 1808 — the most successful deterrent on the Adriatic.
Practical summary
- Access: only from the wall walk — buy the standard walls ticket.
- Hours: identical to the walls' seasonal schedule.
- Effort: minor stairs on and off the platform; one of the easier stations on the circuit.
- Combine with: Lovrijenac (same ticket) for the two halves of the crossfire system, ideally in one morning.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a separate ticket for Bokar Fortress?
No — Bokar is part of the City Walls circuit and is covered by the standard walls ticket. There is no separate entrance from street level.
Who built Bokar Fortress?
The Florentine architect Michelozzo di Bartolomeo designed it, with construction starting in 1461 in response to the new threat of siege artillery; work continued into the 16th century.
Why is Bokar Fortress round?
Curved walls deflect cannonballs instead of absorbing direct hits, and the projecting drum let defenders' guns cover Pile Gate and the moat — cutting-edge military engineering for the 1460s.
Was Bokar in Game of Thrones?
Yes — the ramparts by Bokar appear as King's Landing battlements (notably in Tyrion and Varys's walks), and the cove between Bokar and Lovrijenac stood in for Blackwater Bay.
What's the best view of Bokar?
From Fort Lovrijenac's terraces across the cove, or from sea level on a kayak tour. On the walls themselves, the parapet just past the fort gives the best angle down its curved face.
Ready to walk the walls?
Summer time slots sell out — book your entry in advance and keep your plans flexible with free cancellation on most options.